Broken

Chapter 13

Harry

I take a seat at the table opposite my mum with Louis on my left and Gemma on my right. Mum says something to Louis about the food which I assume is an instruction to help himself as he does.

"So Harry tells me you go to the same school?" Mum asks between bites of a prawn cracker making it extremely difficult to follow along with the conversation when people are eating. I fill in the missing words with assumptions and hope for the best, my usual tactic.

I must of missed Louis reply as I dig into my food. Hopefully he was polite. I briefly look up to see Louis saying something and my mum replying too fast for me to keep up. Great, another conversation missed. It's almost impossible to multitask when you have to intensely stare at peoples lips to understand anything and it's even harder when more than one person is speaking at a time.

Gemma's hand softly taps my arm as she gives me a knowing smile and immediately signs sorry. My mum quickly catches on and signs sorry love, I got carried away with excitement.

"I was just asking Louis how you two know each other" my mum signs as she talks making things 1000 times easier.

"We're in a few of the same classes" I reply.

"Oh is Louis not in Gemma's year then?"

Louis face says it all as he nervously chews on the inside of his lip. Obviously I can't just tell my mum the truth with this one.

"He is but he erm...he helps out in some of our classes for...something to put on his CV. A few people in school do it" I congratulate myself for my quick thinking.

"Yeah. That's the reason" Gemma sarcastically smiles as she signs.

My mum seems pleased with my reply so the conversation drifts to how Gemma's day at school went.

I look across to Louis and give him a reassuring smile in the hope that he'll calm slightly. He smiles back as he exhales a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing. He's trying so hard to make a good impression and it's fucking adorable to watch.

After everyone had finished dinner we helped my mum to clear away the table and thanked her for our food before heading back upstairs to my room. The second I close the door I wrap my arms around Louis and lift him into a hug kissing his hair.

"That went so well!"

"Too loud...and too tight" Louis whines as he wriggles free from my arms. "But yes, it did" he says clearly pleased with himself.

"Now...let's go to yours! Why not meet both our families in one night?"

"Umm maybe tonight's not the best time to meet my family after what happened earlier. I think it's probably best for me to avoid my house for a little while, with guests at least"

"Please? I want to meet your family. Please?"  I pout my lips. "I won't stay long and I'll -"

"Fine. Just...ignore the house"

Oh that was easy enough.

"And don't be surprised if I'm screamed at in front of you. That usually happens every time I'm at home"

I assume his comment is a joke. We run back downstairs and I tell my mum that I'll be back soon. Louis thanks her once again as we head out into his car. Once again he stays silent the whole drive to his house, which I take as sign of nerves. We eventually pull up outside a small broken looking house with a boarded-up front window; maybe he wasn't joking after all.

I follow Louis to the front door as he walks straight into the unlocked door. "I'm home" Louis shouts into the hallway as I shut the front door.

"Louis!" A squealing blonde girl runs towards us and jumps into Louis arms breaking his bad-boy image instantly.

"Hey princess. You okay?"

"Yup yup yup" She nods, flapping her arms around in the air.

I slightly turn to look further into the house and notice the wallpaper practically peeling itself from the walls revealing large brown stains. I peer round to see mould clinging to the ceiling in the living room. There's barely any furniture around and what little furniture there is, looks old, worn-out and dirty. A wave of guilt and sadness rushes over me.

Louis tapps my shoulder adverting my attention back to the conversation in the hallway.

"This is my sister Daisy, the rest are around the house somewhere"

"Hi" Daisy waves, showing the gaps in her teeth as she smiles.

"Hey, I'm Harry"

"Your hairs funny" She giggles.

"Your face is funny" I stick my tounge out at her causing her to giggle even more.

"Are you Lou's boyfriend?"

"No" Louis quickly answers with a frown.

Ouch.

"You act like boyfriends"

"No we don't" He adds, causing the pain in my chest to ache even more.

"You do" She teases.

"Daisy, please go away"

"But we haven't had dinner yet"

I check my phone to see the time. It's 9:15pm.

"Why?"

"Mummy and Daddy are out and they said you have to cook. They said you were going to be home"

"Well it would of been nice for someone to tell me"

"She says you have too"

"I'm such a bad cook" Louis replies with an eye-roll.

Louis and Daisy suddenly turn to stare at me as another almost identical blonde girl runs up to Louis and announces that she's also hungry.

"Please?" Louis pouts.

It takes me a second to realise that I'm now being dragged into the cooking which I don't really mind.

"Fine" I playfully sigh, trying to forget his earlier comments about us ovbiously being 'just friends'.